well you should hear clearly ought to be a lot of data granted put on trial as julian assange has to a london court to a killer the extradition to sweden exactly what will happen the wiki leaks founder ends up in the united states will the power of his celebrity allow for a fair trial. if there is no question that a country in that league agent tortured soul food truck over her shoulder it's forbidden in the constitution but is the u.s. using cruel and unusual punishment dare we say torture while condemning it abroad.

ron paul is going road texas republican says he will step down from running to hold on to his congressional seat and two thousand and twelve to step up his presidential election bid here what he told our team about that decision. and president obama says the checks stops here well august third that is so exactly who's to blame for this political game of chicken over the debt ceiling and the project shadow elites point the finger. it's tuesday july twelfth i'm christine for zero in washington d.c. you're watching our team. well fifteen months ago i walked a couple blocks down the street to the national press club to attend a news conference on a little known website called wiki leaks the news conference was hosted by the web site's founder julian assange on who at the time nearly no one had heard of when

the news conference was over i interviewed him one on one and i asked him to come back to our studios that afternoon for a couple more interviews he agreed no problem and appeared on the news right here on our team america and then later on the alona show let's fast forward to today and julian is songe cannot walk down the streets free his name is widely recognized around the world and his extradition case has become one of the most famous and closely watched in the world well today julian assange spent most of the afternoon in a british court room where he is fighting extradition and where he claims that his encounters with two women who made complaints against him involved consensual sex charges should be dropped artie's laura has more. seven months since julian our souls was released on bail he returns to the high court to appeal his extradition if he fails will be sent to sweden within ten days but many believe his feet won't

touch the ground next stop america i think. the worry is that which in the past has extradited people to america with a minimum of fuss when they were asked was seen as a possible you know but thought to carry much water weight him in the us is this. he's a criminal you have to be. put on trial for well used earlier a notorious neo conservative group help the swedish prime minister friedrich reinfeldt win reelection last year and there's another glaring link in the shape of lawyer thomas bold stroke his firm's representing the two women bringing the sex charges against us in two thousand and one he was minister of justice and is alleged to have helped handover two asylum seekers suspected by the cia of terror they were sent to egypt and allegedly tortured he might well want to stop wiki leaks from functioning the questions of

a quality became even even clearer thanks to some of the documents from exactly wiki leaks there is. a willingness to. do the ariens of the united states over many years from. questions of. making asylum seekers in sweden. to the cia for pennies is particularly strong now with a right leaning government in sweden sweden wants i thought on sex crime charges the us is reportedly preparing an espionage case and it suits no nato member sweden just fine to be a conduit in this case and in others they get. all the benefits. being human soul against partner of the united states without the baggage of being in nato sweden seen as an easier way for the u.s. to get their hands on our souls particularly after it requested the extradition of

gary mckinnon from britain which so far hasn't been granted but critics say the u.k. is just as much in cahoots with the u.s. as sweden. britain to represent us foreign policy in europe. militarily and politically. unfortunately as judy back to court in london he'll have an eye on the british justice system which could save him from being extradited but the other guy will be firmly fixed on sweden a country that insists on its own neutrality whilst telling asylum seekers they visited us to allegedly to be tortured it's only us soldiers and his staff that wiki leaks know what's sweden's got to hide your enemies forty wanted. laura mentioned there's talk that if a sergeant is x. related to sweden he will then be sent straight to the u.s. and there are quite a few people here who are interested in bringing him down even talk about sending him to guantanamo bay despite the united states considering itself as one of the

top defenders of human rights there is evidence of course of torture taking place that want on a break and as well as a evidence of torture tactics being tight right here in the united states archie's killing for it has more on a long dark legacy of teaching torture. it's been thirty years he's colombian soldiers kidnapped so the stars and electroshock hector at least he's about all for having a quote subversive book. of memory to relive every day few people have survived torture in columbus i'm very lucky to be able to tell the story most people get tortured for ten days of this and then they get shot and kill many had been disappear hector said the colombian soldiers who tortured him and later killed his brother. were trained right here on american soil at the school of the america and fort benning georgia army major just

a player with an instructor there i was very much in favor of the school of the americas during the cold war era but major blair says he was horrified with what his former students did with their anti-communist training in their own country classified. that he army schools. use the word interrogate makes for his staff and they do for a lie. common laying. it all the way for. graduates from the school of the americas have been implicated in massacres and torture throughout the hemisphere have been more than sixty thousand soldiers and police have graduated ten thousand of them have been columbia along has been the largest user of the school of the americas i don't think is an accident that colombia is the biggest abuser ok one writes in that with them i mean the eighth amendment to the us constitution forbids torture and other forms of cruel and unusual punishment as does the geneva convention but it did happen there's no

question that our country is only engage in torture and so to talk to others how to do it we also rendered people we also sent people to prisons in other countries where they were in fact tortured there although congress committed more oversight of military training programs and internally with. by the government accountability office so that school of the americas manuals advocated using quote torture truth serum blackmail and execution the pentagon said it didn't know what the manuals contain because its staff advisors assigned to review them didn't speak spanish united nations special repertoire for torture one mendez and self a survivor of torture says a lack of transparency in the u.s. led to further abuse in the eighty's unfortunately. aid military aid and police aid was restored and after that it's been difficult to document to what extent that he includes teaching. techniques that are prohibited by law or by international law

it's a legacy that sharply contrast with u.s. rhetoric about respect for human rights abroad the fact that there is an engagement with. police bodies for example that do you know themselves extensively practiced torture is an embarrassment and perhaps more than an embarrassment to the united states further survivors and religious leaders in washington d.c. have come together to demand a full commission of inquiry into what they describe as torture practices enabled by the united states including in a phone prisons like one time of day and by the cia when president bush says that he waterboarding and he would do it again. and he said them right that he had ordered it. so you know it's a very serious problem for the spirit soul that we're country as the myth of how many prisoners were tortured by the united states are hard to find survivors like heck there's even numbers don't tell the full story when someone gets that person was for thought for the. cause of those. it's also someone

who has to be humanized themselves in order to the humanize the north human being but a society that supports torture is going to pay a price a very big prize as well you know and ford artsy washington d.c. . moving on to some surprising news from texas today texas congressman ron paul put this news out in a tweet he said quote i have decided not to seek reelection to congress full story here and of course there is a link to the story published in his local newspaper the facts instead he says he will focus his efforts on his presidential campaign now this is important for many reasons in two thousand and ten congressman paul won his seat with mourdock more than eighty percent of the vote in his district fourteenth district in texas and would almost certainly enjoy and other victory in two thousand and twelve if of course he doesn't win the republican nomination for president but polls are not showing him anywhere near the top of the somewhat crowded field but he did raise

the second most of all g.o.p. presidential candidates who have reported second quarter totals so i can naysayers representative ron paul seems to think the republican nomination for president could be in his grasp i spoke to ron paul just a short time ago and i asked him how he came to this decision not to seek reelection here's what he had to say. gloria i didn't come to it lightly i've been thinking about it for quite a few months but sought the one that made the decision it was appropriate to let my constituents know so i did talk to the newspaper this morning and released at that i would not run and that i would not be you know campaigning for two different offices i would concentrate on just a presidential run i'm wondering if you've got any pushback from people who say you know you've been serving us for nearly twenty four years if you don't win you know the presidential office you know we feel a little hurt that you're abandoning us have you have you heard anything like that well no but i guess if i did it would be flattery. no i haven't heard that of

course you know it's it's only been out for a few months but nobody's indispensable that's what i know so somebody will have to fill liam and. i will miss being there congressman. position for a long time and certainly another interesting fact about this congress the one hundred twelfth congress you're serving with your son of course who's in the senate kind of an interesting thing i want to switch gears though to your presidential campaign certainly if you look at polls you're not in the in the top top but your voices being heard much more this time around i know that back in two thousand and eight that election i remember i think it was the summer of two thousand and seven i was in chicago at a music festival and there were three guys walking around with the sign that says who is ron paul i remember driving to vegas from san diego looking at a hillside that same question who is ron paul on the side of the hill i don't think anyone's asking that question this time around what do you think has changed in the

four years this made your name and your voice so much more prominent but i think a lot has happened that i think we got a lot of the message out four years ago when people became aware what i was saying and it was it was met with a lot of resistance it was not accepted but because of what i was saying it became important because it. concerns i have for the economy were you know they're out in what happened we did have a financial crisis the foreign policy has gone to the dogs i mean we're still at war wars are being added and we're facing a bankruptcy the federal reserve has been on the defensive because we point out that the fed is so responsible for so much we've had so the the conditions of the country have changed dramatically but the free market economists that i follow that have been completely right on on their concerns and what's happening so it is a different world the support is tremendous now compared to four years ago and i

think it's going to continue to build and we're going to continue to work at it you said the conditions of the country have changed your message though seems to have stayed the same you said some of these messages and of these ideas that you brought forth four years ago were met with resistance what specifically i know that still you have somewhat on popular position although changing rapidly about the wars in afghanistan and iraq what do you think are some of the messages that are really resonating the most i think that i think in all your years when it comes to war more people are skeptical there's more votes now in the congress to provide some home and bring our troops home from iraq and afghanistan and and surely not get another war started in libya so we gain tremendous support there and i think the people in the country are agreeing when i talk about personal liberties people are more worried now about the patriot act and how the patriot act is used to harass us at airports and and testers there in attempt to pretend that they're defending us

and nobody really believes they're doing much good but certainly on the economy in the federal reserve that's where. you know we've gained so much support because we have talked about the financial bubble that existed the housing bubble and it would have to be a correction and certainly we're in the middle of that but we still face a lot of problems and i think people are paying attention to in all areas my job has always been to that. to what i've been pursuing for thirty years and talk about the changes that are necessary philosophically and in the campaign itself we'll continue to do more of what we've been doing and that's where we've excelled because we've had a small number of people to be getting now the numbers keep growing exponentially literally into the billions of people now that they know from us so we'll just continue to do what we're doing and stay as organized as possible next nicole we have right now is to do well at the ames straw vote which is coming up in august so that'll be one area that we're going to key in on now in the next month and we here

at r.t. will keep a close eye on what ron paul continues to do that was of course title senate representative and republican presidential candidate ron paul whether you like it or not the government is providing for those in need but the numbers and they stop you nearly two dollars out of every ten dollars that went into americans wallets last year were payments from the government my jobless benefits food stamps social security and disability that's according to a report by moody's analytics so what happens when steyn federal benefits run out by the end of this year could be a pretty dire situation joining me from more from our new york studio is economist and radio host richard wells hey there richard you know here in washington there is so much back and forth talk about what's best for the economic health of this country but the bottom line is real americans are going to be affected by whatever the decision is i guess i want to start out by asking you how you interpret by what we're seeing with all this conversation over the debt ceiling and what needs to

change there. well i think to be brutally honest that neither side neither the president of democrats nor the republicans are facing the basic issues of this economy we are in serious trouble we have very high and persistent unemployment and what we are doing is arguing over the technicalities of the debt limit ceiling that is going to be changed and raised as it has been every other time this theatrical drama has been rerun and meanwhile our political leaders are not dealing with the underlying problem we have a state minnesota that has already shut down we have other states that are following suit we have cities facing collapse we have a serious economic problem the private sector has not provided the jobs so shows no signs of doing that and either the government is going to step in or we're facing an economic situation that is more dire than any i have seen in my lifetime of

being a specialist on the american economy i think it's really interesting richard that you mention on and clearly every state has big troubles we've been talking a whole lot about minnesota and a government shutdown there and some other interesting things in that i want to take a look at just a few things arizona for example there are now ten job seekers for every job opening in florida where there's nearly four hundred seventy six thousand people collecting unemployment benefits just eleven thousand two hundred were added last year and over to michigan forty thousand jobs added since may of last year but two hundred fifty seven thousand people are still looking so i want to ask you you know when the spending stops that much of these payments what stops the what do you foresee as a result in states like beth let me just show. i'm afraid i see very dire consequences now that president obama has indicated he is willing to participate in

getting big cuts to all kinds of payments thereby taking away the capacity of the federal government to help cities and states they're going to continue to cut people should know that since this great recession began over half a million city and state workers have been laid off that does not help our economic system that diminishes the amount of buying that those people can do that in turn cuts the deed for other jobs or we continue to commit our corporations to hire people in other countries because they're cheaper in addition to their not being enough jobs if you actually look at our economy because wages are going down the quality of the jobs that people get even if they're lucky enough to have one is deteriorating we're looking at long term economic decline if there isn't the basic change and blaming the government and having fantasies that by cutting taxes it's magically going to solve our problem is not an adequate solution and i think we're

seeing a growing alienation of the american people from the whole spectacle as they watch their real situation deteriorate and nothing really is being done you made a few good points there richard are i want to touch upon any i read about every day you know people with master's degrees and ph d.'s working you know if starbucks were in it is it's a lie a bunch of my students just graduated from college they're having trouble finding jobs but you mentioned president obama a few times and we've been hearing from him a lot lately he's of course making it very clear and i'm going thing as words when he says that if this debt ceiling debate doesn't get solved on august third the day after the deadline social security checks will stop coming and if they do he says it will be the republican's fault even the economist magazine just published an article in. titled shame on them the republicans are playing a cynical political game with huge economic stakes saying also this is economically

illiterate and disgracefully cynical and that both parties have in recent months been guilty of fiscal rest recklessness right now though the blame falls on the republicans and independent voters to take note the economist magazine not really one that usually plays politics as much certainly doesn't usually put things in the republican court in terms of who's to blame your thoughts on that. i think the economist speaks for most of the business community that is frankly disgusted with the republicans because they know that the debt ceiling has to be raised let me remind you that when the budget was passed last year for the fiscal year we're in and it was passed by the republicans and the democrats together they knew that the spending program of that budget pay fares would require raising the debt ceiling acting now life suddenly all which is a big issue really makes no sense and is dishonest but here's the answer that the republicans give and here's cynicism on a big scale their answer is the american people are suffering from

a terrible crisis they're looking for any help they can get and the republicans are making this theater around the silly because we can allow them to get maximum populous city for being the party that's going to at least help the american people little businesses individuals by cutting taxes or at least not allowing taxes to grow and that's going to build their mess base because people are angry about their situation and are grateful if a politician doesn't raise their taxes the fact that it's not a viable solution that it will not affect the basic economic situation except in a negative way well that's what's going to happen tomorrow meanwhile they're running for office in the elections of two thousand and twelve it is a very cynical ploy and if they push it and if the american government can't pay its debts for a few days and that's the most that will happen it will do a very bad job on diminishing the credit of the united states in the world economy

at a very dangerous time and so it is playing with fire and you may find that they will be very sorry the morning after if the whole business community gets on them the way the economist did that's a good point you know i keep listening and i'm just not hearing any sort of historical examples of a time when it taxes were cut and things got better certainly an interesting point a communist and radio host richard roth. all right so one of those states we just talked about the state of michigan certainly in dire straits so much so that it is giving up a prized asset to find a way out of its economic woes it's decided democracy may just be too expensive unelected financial managers have now taken the place of elected officials and have been given a free hand to make decisions and those decisions go unchecked our correspondent kareen important takes a deeper look at the extreme measures being taken all around the country especially

in michigan. the american state known for its greatly has seen the middle class speed and automotive industry crumble in michigan's poor city benton harbor more than a quarter citizens are unemployed and elected officials have lost all authority to govern as an unprecedented democratic collapse plays out we believe that it's illegal immoral and unconstitutional no one person in this country has the thory to prove the united states would not have that authority in the face of massive public opposition michigan lawmakers recently reshape democracy by giving the unilateral authority to officials known as emergency financial managers e.-m. maps have independent authority to fire elected officials close schools void union contracts sell public property and privatized assets residents like scott elliott say his city could be the start of a changing landscape in american politics people throw around words like oligarchs

and all that sort of thing i mean that's that's what it already is i think the average citizen is going to have less and less to say about what is done with public assets these decision makers are appointed by the governor to oversee school districts and cities like budget harbor facing financial distress in april then to harper's young maff stripped the elected city council of its democratic power lead . in a city of eleven thousand struggling americans under the rule of a man they didn't allow their hypocritical you know they're trying to export democracy for around the world but you know they're trying to suppress the citizens of this country at least four other cities including detroit have an emergency manager in the motor city the e.m.f. laid off some six thousand teachers and it's pioneering plans for corporations to privately run schools funded by public tax dollars well dr martin luther king.

said injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere so it's harder today but it could be in new york from our or it couldn't be chicago next week benton harbor is one of roughly one hundred cities or towns in michigan reportedly on the verge of this whole collapse and economic just for ration that would be the way for financial martial law to spread throughout the states critics say that would lead to a deepening demise of democratic rights the u.s. has always claimed to stand for. you know for nigh on benton harbor michigan. and still ahead here on r t foreign minister sergei lavrov here at our taste studios we'll show you his tour around our studios and share what he thinks about u.s. cooperation with russia. and. we

are going to break. i think. either one well. we never got as the safe get ready because the freedom.

well earlier today russian foreign minister sergei lavrov paid a visit to us here at our take you toward our studios as you can see behind me and he was also interviewed by the radio station voice of russia where he spoke in depth about the u.s. russert russia relations and also about the need for the two countries to work together on missile defense here's a little bit of what he had to say. but the problem is that parallel with those discussions which have not yet reached results barrel with them facts on the ground being created on the basis of american national design of missile defense which was not accepted by us as a reasonable way to respond to what is received as being the purpose of then the system so we want at this particular moment to stick to the original agreement that when we need to have a joint understanding of why we need this missile defense system where threats are

coming from if it is from outside your authentic area as the american still us and why don't we discuss criteria which will guarantee that it is exactly the way it would be constructed and that there would be no parts of the system which would . compromise which would. create three six for the strategic stability and for the but then short in the strategic stability area namely strategic arsenals of the participants of the system so that we not only saying as we didn't respond that we do not three present the threat but each other we are partners but we also france laid this statement into practical arrangements on missile defense and he's sure to turn into our team tomorrow we'll have more from the foreign minister i think talking about libya about and airstrikes i'm not going.